"Rush Limbaugh: Don’t Blame Me For WABC’s Declining Ad Sales" Hinckley

[hubcity]

The point is that he has an established listener base, and they'd follow him to another day part.

See, this is the thing - while on the one hand we hear that advertisers aren't interested in aging audiences, and that's why WCBS-FM had to slide their oldies window up into the 80's, we're hearing about Limbaugh's "established listener base" which, if I'm not mistaken, is aging kind of the same way the people who liked what WCBS-FM used to play are aging.

I'm trying to figure out which statement shows confirmation bias, because they can't both be true.

 

[TheBigA]

I'm trying to figure out which statement shows confirmation bias, because they can't both be true.

Actually, there IS no bias. The reality is that advertisers AREN'T interested in Rush's aging listener base, which is the real reason behind this subject line. As long as talk radio aims at primarily over-50 white men who listen to AM radio, you will have declining ad sales. Don't blame Rush because the entire format is in the hole. The problem is talk radio is built around specific hosts, while music formats are built around songs, which can be adjusted to lower the demos when needed. This is why Cumulus isn't investing as much in talk radio as it is in NASH.

 

[TTalkradio1]

WABC will get hit hard if Limbaugh leaves, the same way rock radio was hit when Howard Stern left.

 

[TheBigA]

WABC will get hit hard if Limbaugh leaves, the same way rock radio was hit when Howard Stern left.

I don't think the analogy works. Stern was #1 in mornings. Rush is not close to being #1 in his daypart.

 

[microbob]

I'm trying to figure out which statement shows confirmation bias, because they can't both be true.

Actually, there IS no bias. The reality is that advertisers AREN'T interested in Rush's aging listener base, which is the real reason behind this subject line. As long as talk radio aims at primarily over-50 white men who listen to AM radio, you will have declining ad sales. Don't blame Rush because the entire format is in the hole. The problem is talk radio is built around specific hosts, while music formats are built around songs, which can be adjusted to lower the demos when needed. This is why Cumulus isn't investing as much in talk radio as it is in NASH.

Big A
This article speaks to your point that advertisers are not interested in an aging demographic

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...eems-set-to-part-ways-with-rush-limbaugh.html

Quote

“We’ve had concerned advertisers, and some have requested they not be placed in the Limbaugh show,” said an employee of one Midwest radio station, who declined to be named due to company policies. “But it’s more of an annoyance—a pain in the butt ... It’s pretty obvious as a listener. You hear the same national ads over and over, like LifeLock and Dick Morris’s ObamaCare Survival Guide.”

 

[TheBigA]

I think this quote speaks more to my point:

But the larger issue is the declining demographics of the right-wing talk-radio racket. “Look at the millennial generation,” says Colliano. “There’s 80 million of them coming of age. They don’t see color. They don’t see gender. And they’re civic minded: they don’t like bloviating. They don’t like yelling and screaming. So you tell me: how’s right-wing talk radio working for them?”

 

[TTalkradio1]

WABC will get hit hard if Limbaugh leaves, the same way rock radio was hit when Howard Stern left.

I don't think the analogy works. Stern was #1 in mornings. Rush is not close to being #1 in his daypart.

Rush is what the station is built around, and Howard was losing to Spanish radio at the end.

 

[TheBigA]

Rush is what the station is built around, and Howard was losing to Spanish radio at the end.

But the station is increasingly irrelevant. Whether he stays or goes, it's in decline.

 

[johntherogger]

From a man working in Radio


RUSH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT



The fact is Radio's revenue is down because PEOPLE CAN'T AFFORD IT!!!!!!! Our economy is down enough that those who buy time on TV, Radio and Internet are having to "pick and choose" or buy "smaller packages"

We have the same problem here...no one stopped listening, advertisers WANT to be on but just can't afford it right now


The problem isn't rush, it's the Market......................

 

[stevensonair]

The problem is also the format and its demographics.

 

[R.F. Burns]

Rush started his first NY show at WABC. It is fitting that he gets tossed from there.
He has been saying the same thing forever and has lost a lot of listeners.

He's not getting tossed from WABC.

The talk has it that since Clear Channel has purchased WOR, they will move Rush, who works for Clear Channel, to a Clear Channel station and away from one that they do not own.

Citadel is most likely paying for the right to run his show. Why would they want to give that income up when they can run another program on their local while Rush is on and sell spot time there as well? It doesn't make sense to do that. Limbaugh has a major campaign against him to keep advertisers off of his show. Don't believe that? Read this and check out the links (in the slide show) to the adverts actual web sites. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...vertisers-cumulus_n_3237496.html#slide=754550

 

[uncamark]

Citadel is most likely paying for the right to run his show. Why would they want to give that income up when they can run another program on their local while Rush is on and sell spot time there as well? It doesn't make sense to do that. Limbaugh has a major campaign against him to keep advertisers off of his show. Don't believe that? Read this and check out the links (in the slide show) to the adverts actual web sites. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...vertisers-cumulus_n_3237496.html#slide=754550

And I would bet advertisers have had these kinds of clauses in their contracts for years. Most advertisers don't want to be anything that's controversial in any way.

And BTW, it's Cumulus. Citadel doesn't exist anymore.

 

[TTalkradio1]

But nobody else seems to have the brains to replicate it. It's just across the river: NJ 101.5. They are not executing the format as well as they used to but it's still the closest thing spoken word radio has to a class act.

101.15 is horrible radio.

 

[R.F. Burns]

Citadel is most likely paying for the right to run his show. Why would they want to give that income up when they can run another program on their local while Rush is on and sell spot time there as well? It doesn't make sense to do that. Limbaugh has a major campaign against him to keep advertisers off of his show. Don't believe that? Read this and check out the links (in the slide show) to the adverts actual web sites. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...vertisers-cumulus_n_3237496.html#slide=754550

And I would bet advertisers have had these kinds of clauses in their contracts for years. Most advertisers don't want to be anything that's controversial in any way.

And BTW, it's Cumulus. Citadel doesn't exist anymore.

Good point. Nevertheless, what I said is true.

 

[Ejxit]

If he does move to WOR, which is likely and the worst kept secret in the industry, it will be fascinating to see if the audience follows.


We will. You can bet on it. It's only one button push away on a car radio or a good portable like the Sony 2010 with 32 plus presets.

 

[uncamark]

If he does move to WOR, which is likely and the worst kept secret in the industry, it will be fascinating to see if the audience follows.


We will. You can bet on it. It's only one button push away on a car radio or a good portable like the Sony 2010 with 32 plus presets.

But will that audience be around five years from now? And will advertisers come back--if they were ever around to begin with?

 

[TheBigA]

But will that audience be around five years from now? And will advertisers come back--if they were ever around to begin with?

No...that's the point. The audience is declining, the revenue is declining, and they won't come back to AM regardless of what happens. The train has left the station. And when he goes, it will be like Paul Harvey or Stern. There is no replacement.

 

[FredLeonard]

Dittoheads can't have it both ways. Rush took credit for saving AM radio and for the revenue success of stations which carried him. He can't turn-around now and say it has nothing to do with him. OK, he can. That's what Rush does for a living. But the fact is he is a significant factor in any affiliate's revenue. Not the only factor but an important one.